Britain's biggest retailers are calling for a major change in the Sunday
trading laws, saying they need to trade longer hours on Boxing Day.

Some of the biggest shopkeepers in Britain, including Sir Philip Green, the owner of Arcadia, and Rob Templeman, the chief executive of Debenhams, have said Britain's restrictive trading laws mean they will lose at least £50 million in sales in the west end of London alone if the rules do not change.

This year Boxing Day falls on a Sunday, a day which in recent years has marked the start of the post-Christmas sales. All of the major stores, with the exception of John Lewis, now start their sales on the day after Christmas.

Changing Sunday trading, even for just one day, would be controversial as well as legally very difficult. Shops – except for the very smallest – are allowed to open their tills for no more than six hours on a Sunday, a law which came into force in 1994 after a long struggle by the business community. Only shops with less than 3,000 square feet – essentially convenience stores and small independent shops - can open for more than six hours.

Legislation would be required, but the shops, which include most of the leading clothing retailers in Britain, as well as other major shop groups – Topshop, New Look, House of Fraser, Selfridges, Hamleys, Boots and Burton – insist a change is necessary. They have sent a letter to Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, a copy of which The Daily Telegraph has seen.

Rob Templeman, chief executive Debenhams, said: “The first day of the sale is a key time for both customers and retailers. On what is traditionally one of the busiest days of the year we would welcome an extension to the trading hours which would enable us to offer our customers a better and safer shopping experience. Condensing one of the country's peak trading days into fewer hours would not be helpful either to customers or to the recovery needed in the retail sector.”

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Paul Kelly, chief executive of Selfridges said: "Coming to the Boxing Day sale has become as traditional as Christmas pudding for thousands of our customers. It would be a great shame to deprive them of such a hugely popular family day out by restricting them to only six hours of bargain-hunting just because Boxing Day happens to fall on a Sunday."

Analysts pointed out that it was increasingly illogical that millions of shoppers logged onto shop on Christmas Day itself on the internet, but they could not shop on the high street. Last year an estimated 4 million people used their credit card to buy something over the internet on December 25.

Jason Gordon, retail expert at Booz & Company consultancy, said: "The retailers are right to suggest Sunday trading rules on Boxing Day will dampen their sales.

"I'm firmly of the opinion that in a multicultural society it is odd to stop people shopping on the high street, when they could do it online anyway."

Though many tourists and shoppers might welcome the move, campaigners warned that it was the thin end of the wedge, with fears that it was only a matter of time before pressure mounted for shops to open on Christmas Day and Easter Day, the two days when large shops are not allowed to open at all.

John Hayward, of the social reform charity Jubilee Centre, said: "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had just one bank holiday when the family spent it together, rather than shopping.

"I really don't believe that the retailers can't make up any lost sales and profits on December 27. "

He pointed out that because Christmas and Boxing Day fell over the weekend, there was a bank holiday on both the Monday and Tuesday, giving people plenty of time to go to the sales.

A spokesman for the Department for Business said: ""We carried out a wide ranging and thorough review in 2006 and concluded that the current laws strike the right balance between all the interests involved."